Back to the past
by apochan kenshiro
Summary: Nerima-ku is highly different: silent, quite, just like it's never been ... and there're Michiko and Kaitou ... Who are them? What happened? Why the time flow's so strange? This is a story whose time-stream is unique... Enjoy...
1. Cruel pain

**Zankoku na itami (_Cruel pain_)**

A red fire sphere flooded the narrow streets of the town, while that day was coming to an end. The shadows of the day started pushing their way snaking, while the first star was peeping out in the sky. By now, in town, everyone was going to come home. Solely few cats, which wandered mewing in lanes, probably searching some food, were the only obstinate ones staying outside. Evening was going to come down more and more on the district of Nerima - ku.

A little bit behind the curtains of an anonymous bedroom, a pensive girl stared at the sunset show, which was taking place in the little district of Tokyo. She sadly sighed only watching the daily withdrawal of the sun. Thoughts and memories surely crowded her minds: her blue eyes were the proof.

Michiko had her last long sigh, and then moved aside the window, closing the curtains. She stopped paying attention to the twilight, but not to what had been always in her head for a long time. Through tired movements and gestures, she went to the desk of her bedroom, turned on the lamp, moved aside the chair and sat down. Then she opened a drawer and took out her trustworthy confessor, the only one who had all the patience of the world to listen to her, and no possibilities or will to tell what she used to rely on him.

The girl opened her diary on the desk, took a pen, made a note of the date and started writing, completely merged in her thoughts:

"_Dear diary,_

_It's the umpteenth time I'm here leafing through your pages, hoping to find a corner where I can talk and pour my heart out to you. Every day, every night when I sleep, every time I look at the sunset, these thoughts have nothing to do but overwhelm me, and I can't feel nothing but a deep sadness. I think about my life again as something empty, as a puzzle without one last domino … I really need what unfairly had torn up to me … if they only hadn't told me … I would have been able to keep on living, without this feeling of incompleteness, without this regret of having never met them … grandfathers and aunts had managed to make me and my brother live peacefully, for at least sixteen years. Unfortunately the burden which everybody had on heart didn't allow them to be further silent: they felt to be ought to tell us the truth. And, by now for at least two months, I haven't been able to do anything but being reserved and heaping quite obsessively my thoughts on your pages: what they said, that September afternoon, literally shocked me … only haste, resentment and suffering leaked out from the story … that haste … I continue asking myself: is it possible to reach such a haste? Is it possible to reach such a point of no way back and madness? No, it's not, and this tortures me non-stop … all this was unthinkable, unacceptable, and what was worst, all this could be avoided … even now I can't do anything but looking at the clock- I hope, at any moment, that its hands stop and start spinning furiously round back, also bringing me back to the past … also making me repair what everyone want to keep on looking, even if in their wet eyes, such as something inevitable … also making my life be the one I wanted to be. I don't want to say that grandfathers, aunts and my brother Kaitou have never gave me all the affection I need, but it would have been surely wonderful with THEM …"_

Michiko brought up her tired eyes from the diary's page and looked at the clock: it was five thirty and this meant she could stray herself in loneliness a bit more.

" … _now my thoughts are thicker than ever and I can't go on. When I need to open up to you, I'm sure your pages will be ready to welcome my thoughts, that will pour out pressingly on them. I'll give myself to some rest, although I actually know time will pass before I find my peaceful rest …"_

She placed the pen and closed the diary, putting then precisely him away in the drawer. She stood up from the chair and looked around herself. She realized evening had totally come, and the only source of light in her bedroom was the lamp on her desk.

She was going to go on the direction of the bed, when she heard a soft ticking.

"It could be aunt who's knocking my door. She's always been kind of nature … "

She thought, going straight of the door of her bedroom.

She grabbed the handle and opened, sneaking out shyly on the hallway, but nobody was there. A quiet and strangely soft chattering came from downstairs, probably the television. From two months apart, almost nobody had wanted to speak in family.

Michiko closed the door, thinking was only a figment of her imagination. That time she returned to desk and turned off the lamp, then she decisively went in the direction of her bed. She lay down on it, and grabbed tightly the pillow, holding it close to her, as if she was trying to embrace something she couldn't really grab. She crouched down, keeping on holding the pillow between harms. Numerous thoughts, which tortured her, were so confused and crowded in her head, giving her the impression to vanish. In darkness, in silence, in her bedroom, the girl found herself to be only half awake, as hung in an empty space where she felt falling.

She was quite going to fall asleep, when the soft ticking came back. No … although she felt to be more prisoner of a dreamy world, she understood the ticking was real.

She unwillingly stood up and tried to look around. There were new moon and no lights in the bedroom: there only was the far and dim reminiscence of a street lamp's light. She tried to sharpen her hearing, but she didn't get any sign. So she fumbled for the desk and reached it, for turning on the lamp. At that moment she was going to turn on it, she heard again that sound and she understood: it was at the window.

Spacing in her mind, she imagined the worst: a shady character, a thief, a maniac, a rascal, a killer … carrying always with no light, leaning on the pieces of furniture and the walls, she came to the opposite corner of the bedroom where, hidden behind the wardrobe, there were two very curious "antiques" the sixteen-year-old had never hesitated to use. She had never known why they were there in her bedroom: she had never asked it and nobody had never told her. She took them both, just to choose which of them would have been instantly more useful. In her left hand she held an old bat, which was at least twenty, while in her right one she grasped an old-like-first bamboo bokken. She had weighed them in her hands for some seconds, then she chose the bokken: it was lighter, but also effective.

The ticking came again, less soft. Michiko, grabbing with both hands the bamboo sword, went slowly to the window, following the external glimpse of street lamp. When she reach her goal, she set herself next to it, so that she could not be seen. She deeply breathed in.

"Come on Michiko …"

She suddenly opened curtains and window, and pointed the katana at the tune who was in front of her.

-Don't move pervert!-

Her eyes were wide opened and full of anger. However, when what she saw became information in her brain, she understood the mistake she had done, again …

-Damn, Michiko, you'll kill me with all your tools some day! I only came to make you feel a little bit better … -

Two irreverent hazel eyes looked at the girl up and down.

-Couldn't you do it like every normal person, Kaitou? Knocking at the door, for instance.-

-I see you're as gentle as same, sister.-

-Stop it, jerk! Come in, otherwise we'll both freeze … -

As soon as the boy came in, the sister closed the window and turned on the lamp.

_Hi everybody! My name's apochan kenshiro (who's real name's Federica …), I'm Italian and I really love writing fan fictions … of course I could not be able to do this if I didn't love anime, manga, TV series and literature, especially Ranma ½, Castle, Edgar Allan Poe and Italo Calvino …_

_I decided to sign up few days ago just right because I'm just publishing my fan fictions on Italian websites an' I said: why not try on too? It's a bet, I know, but I like what I do, especially what I figure out in my mind … so, this is the first chapter of my story, hoping you had been able to enjoy it … I know, actually, I'm Italian, and I'll try my best (although I'm gonna attend to university this Autumn, right studying English, I'm totally aware of the fact that my prose seems to be ridiculous to you!) …_

_So, see you soon guys!_

_p.s. For the reason I previously explained, I urgently need a speaking – English BETA, no matter if he/she is American or British … Bye!_

_p.s. 2 After almost a year I edited again this chapter, hope you like it! Bye again!_


	2. Family portrait

**Kazoku no pootoreto (Family portrait)**

Michiko looked at her brother fiercely, sending him significant glances and squaring his figure from the top to the bottom. Meanwhile, he had sat down astride on the chair of the desk. She stood up with her arms tightly crossed on her chest.

"The same jackass as usual."

She thought, as she was staring at him wrathfully and he was staring at her irreverently. They both staid silent for a while.

In the end, the girl, annoyed with the embarrassing silence between her and her brother, broke it:

-Listen, Kaitou: tell me immediately what you need, then go away. This is not the evening …-

-I wouldn't go against you, Michiko, but for you it hasn't be the evening, the morning, the day for more than a while …-

-Shut up! Want to tell me what the hell you want?-

She answered almost growling.

In reply to this, Kaitou suddenly stood up.

-What the … can't I be worried about you? Shit! What do you think, I hardly sleep after what they said us! But I try on going on, I don't drag myself all along the house like a zombie! I train, I distract myself, I …-

Kaitou suddenly blocked. Michiko had not borne such bullying: she had printed hard the shape of her palm and her five fingers on the cheek of the boy. The silence mastered the scene. Embarrass still stood heavily between the two siblings.

After some minutes warm tears started flowing down plentifully from the girl's eyes. Immediately her body started sobbing and thrilling, entirely shaken. No … it was happening again … he had made her cry … he had made his own sister cry.

Kaitou had an inexplicable natural talent in getting mad his sister Michiko and, in some particular situations, the skill of bringing her to exasperation and making her cry, even though he didn't want to. He watched her mortified, feeling anger against himself growing inside. He tried to open his mouth, to apologize, but she anticipate him.

-Stop, Kaitou, I'm sick of all …-

When Michiko got to cry, she became fragile and vulnerable. And Kaitou couldn't stand to see her that way.

He came closer and hugged his sister, who didn't react. She was keeping on crying.

-I'm so sorry, Michiko, I'm a real jackass … what I meant to say is that I'm really worried about you, and I can't stand to see this way any more! You've been always cheerful, full of vitality, but, since grandpas told us everything, you haven't been the same, and this hurt me. I'm anyway your brother … I'm naturally worried about you.-

Kaitou's words had not only a chilling effect on her, but also releasing:

-Brother … yeah, I'm not myself any more, 'cause I see my life under a different perspective. Knowing that EVERITHING happened because of natural causes had healed my pain for their absence. I'm not stupid, when things like that come to happen it's no use to cry and regret: you have to find peace and look at what the world and who's around can give you … but knowing that everything could be avoided, that there was a choice, that there was something that could be done … I'm doing nothing but hoping the time come back, to live a better life, ALL OF US to live a better life … oh, Kaitou! Why there's not a way to come back, WHY?-

-I wish I know it too, sis' … I wish it with all myself … -

The two siblings kept themselves tight to each other for a while, to cheer up, to help each other to overcome that moment. Yes, Kaitou was a strong boy, but he was only a boy in the end, and he was suffering like his sister … he also felt that painful hole in his chest …

The boy raised his eyes to the ceiling, as if to free a silent shout. Then he looked around. His sister's room was always so tidy … on the other hand his own …

He glanced casually the watch on the desk … thoughts in his mind reset completely, to leave place for only one … it was late.

-Damn, Michiko, it's seven!-

The sister kind of woke up.

-Oh, man … -

She couldn't finish her exclamation, that they both heard a voice coming from downstairs.

-Guys, the dinner's ready!-

-Here we come!-

As they woke up from a kind of centuries long sleep, the two rushed down the stairs, to reach the dining room.

The whole family was there. Grandpa Soun, with his long white hair, his white whiskers, the immortal pale brown suit and the wool blanket on his shoulders. Grandpa Genma, with his old broken glasses, his white suit and funny bandanna of the same colour, always there to cover his bald head, the identical blanket of his old time friend. And there was Aunt Nabiki, an over thirty-years-old beauty, with her bob-cut brown hair, always confident, fascinating and independent, but a dark light in her hazel eyes.

They looked around and noticed Aunt Kasumi was absent. It took only few seconds and she came in the dining room, bringing the bowl where she had prepared with care the oden. She was also a beautiful woman, apparently thirty as the sister, with with long brown silky hair, gathered into the form of a plait; Michiko and Kaitou were sure she was two-years older than Aunt Nabiki. In addiction, she was a perfect motherly housewife, sweet and always cheerful, although she had the same eyes of her younger sister: hazel eyes, but full of a dark light.

Kasumi brought the oden and put it down on the table. She saw the children standing and elbowing to each other, both trying to reach first their favourite seat. The whole family was watching them as enchanted. They had been the portrait of grudge and melancholy for two months, while that evening, after the terrible argument they heard from the ground floor, they seemed to be again the sunny siblings they were before. It also seemed to live again in the past. A furtive tear rolled down the cheeks of the old Soun Tendo.

When the two noticed, stopped quarrelling.

-Grandpa, are you okay?-

Asked Michiko worried.

-Yeah, my dear grandchild … it's, it's only so beautiful to see you again so cheery …-

Kaito and Michiko tried for a while to leave behind their misery, giving their grandfather a shiny smile. A veil of serenity fall on the Tendo house after a long time.

-Come on, child, what are you waiting to take a seat? If you don't hurry, oden will get cold.-

Said cheerfully Kasumi.

The siblings sat down and started having their dinner peacefully, together with their family. For that evening, there would not have been any long snout.

After dinner, Genma and Soun started one of their usual shogi game, Nabiki went on smoking a cigarette in the porch and Kaitou got to watch television. Meanwhile, Michiko decided to help Aunt Kasumi.

-Aunt Kasumi, may I help you?-

She murmured after the end of the meal.

-Oh, sure sweet. But we have to clear the table, wash the dishes and prepare the dishwasher. Do you want to?

-Sure, Aunt!-

So she started clearing the table, a little bit airy, then following the aunt in the kitchen, in order to wash the dishes.

While they were washing the bowls for the rice, she suddenly saw her aunt's face darkening. A terrible doubt flashed in her mind.

-Aunt, what's going on?-

-Oh, nothing darling … don't be concerned.-

-Sure? You're so serious …-

Kasumi bowed her head. Could she? She could, she was her own niece.

-Well, it was this morning … you and Kaitou were at school, Aunt Nabiki was on work, Grandpas walking in the park …-

-What happened, Aunt?-

Asked Michiko. She was feeling more anxious.

- … He called …-

-Who?-

Although the suspicions, Michiko needed the aunt's confirm.

-Who, Aunt?-

-Ono …-

They both put down the dishes. Michiko raised her aunt's hands, after having grabbed them gently, and looked straight into her eyes. That gaze of encouragement and safety, a gaze Kasumi had not seen for so long, for so many years, exhorted her to continue.

-He told me he's fine in Sapporo, even though there's a lot of snow …-

-Kamisama … he's in Hokkaido …-

-Yes … but he says his clinic whatever works …-

Silently tears started falling down on the porcelain face of Kasumi. Michiko noticed it, and hugged the aunt gently.

-Oh, Michiko! I can't stand it any more, I miss him …-

-Aunt … No, don't cry … I know, you miss him and he's not here, but he loves you and, sooner or later, he'll be back!-

-I'm not so sure, niece … the regret is too huge for him …-

Michiko warmed up.

-But it wasn't his fault! He did everything possible!-

-I know … but, considering it wasn't enough, it wasn't everything … you know … he was really attached too …-

-I know, Aunt … I know …-

As if she didn't noticed, also Michiko was crying, poring out all her pain.

Aunt and niece staid hugged for a while. Then, among some tears, sobs, some words of support and some dishes to wash, they finished their houseworks. It was half past ten when the dishwasher ended.

Michiko and Kasumi went through the dining room, in order to put away bowls, dishes, glasses and chopsticks. The rest of the family had already gone to bed.

They climbed the stairs, to reach the night rest they deserved.

They said "goog night" hugging again. Kasumi gave then a kiss on the niece's forehead.

-Good night Michiko …-

-Night Aunt …-

And Kasumi came in her bedroom. So Michiko did.

Once inside, she leant on the door and sighed.

"Yes, Aunt … Dr. Tofu will come back, I promise … I'll find a way … and not only that …"

_Eccomi qua! Hi everybody, this is the second chapter of my venture ^^ … I know: who understood what I did, he/she's free of willing my death, probably asking for those terrible voodoo dolls which Hikaru Gosunkugi always carries with himself. Anyway, I'd dare to ask to wait for the rest: the end is still far to come and a lot of other things will happen …_

**For who's Italian:****questo è il terzo sito dove pubblico "****Back to the past****", ma il primo dove lo faccio in inglese … per facilitarvi la lettura, qualora la voleste continuare, vi consiglierei di cercare la storia su EFP, dove sono già arrivata in un anno alla pubblicazione di 19 capitoli …**

_In the end, thanks for everyone who read, I appreciated it, and if you didn't mind, I would like to know your opinions, whatever positive or negative they are, especially on the language ;)_

_Alla prossima, See you soon!_


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